Fan reaction to the release of Liverpool’s fixtures for the 2024-2025 Premier League season, the highlights and lowlights…
I WANTED Ipswich to be the first game.
Living in Norwich but with a job that takes me to Ipswich a good deal, the last 12 months have been fascinating here.
While the Canaries have been the more successful club of late while ‘the Town’ have, for the main part, been awful (Roy Keane, Mick McCarthy), the rivalry is as strong as ever.
For a brief time, it looked like ‘The Old Farm’ derby would be reenacted in the playoffs with the yellow and greens just about making the playoffs while hoping that The Blues fall from the top two. That would have led to carnage around here.
I’ve always been wary of other derbies. Do Espanyol fans truly hate Barca to the same extent that I/we hate the other lot, or is it just a case of familiarity and geography breeds contempt? I suppose it’s a one-sided struggle in the same way that some old-school diehard Tranmere fans can despise The Reds without us even noticing.
In any case, Ipswich and Norwich don’t get on regardless of where they are.
My girlfriend often tells the story of how her eldest, then around eight years old, would refuse to eat peas and sweetcorn on the same plate because of the similarities to Norwich’s colours. That’s the sort of pettiness I can get on with. He had the excuse of childhood back then, but he hasn’t changed, to be honest.
But Ipswich away is perfect for The Reds. Alright, we’re away from home again on the opening day but the ‘computer’ (yeah, right!) could have been crueller. It’s the least it could do given the Stamford Bridge opener last season. That’s Manchester City’s privilege next season.
We haven’t had an opener in front of a home crowd since we beat Norwich in 2019. We won the league that year.
I think we’ll be alright, but you can see why it’s been chosen. Sorry. ‘Randomly generated by a computer.’ A boisterous home crowd for a newly promoted side combined with Arne Slot’s first competitive game in charge. It’s also a 12.30pm game so will be a nightmare to get to from Liverpool. I bet they thought long and hard about that element. No?
Obviously, everyone has to play each other twice so it shouldn’t matter, but October looks tricky. A week between Chelsea at home and Arsenal away. Late November/early December doesn’t look like a riot either. City at home, Newcastle away and then the away derby. At least we can’t play that bad again at Goodison as last season…
May starts with Chelsea and Arsenal again followed by Brighton and finishing with Palace at Anfield. Luckily, we’ll have league title number 20 safely wrapped up by then, sat next to the League Cup with the FA Cup and Champions League to come, so they shouldn’t be an issue at that stage.
I love that we’ve got Ipswich, though. I love that they’re back. In the early ‘80s they were a big and respected rival to The Reds. A proper club. An opinion I won’t be sharing around my adopted city.
I love it when the new fixtures come out. They seem so relevant when they don’t really make a blind bit of significance in real terms. Arguably a bit like football itself.
It all starts again on August 17th. Lenny Yoro’s debut and, though I’m still recovering from last season and still need time to recuperate, I can’t wait for the circus to come to town again.
And, yes, I’d love your spare ticket in the away end.
Pre-order Neil Atkinson’s book ‘Transformer’ and help us get a Sunday Times bestseller…
